Raymond James Issues Optimistic Estimate for Fortis Earnings

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) – Equities researchers at Raymond James upped their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Fortis in a report released on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James analyst D. Quezada now expects that the company will earn $3.29 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $3.24. Raymond James has a “Market Perform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $3.34 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Fortis’ Q2 2025 earnings at $0.65 EPS and Q3 2025 earnings at $0.84 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Fortis from C$52.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, National Bankshares upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$60.33.

Fortis Stock Down 0.4 %

FTS opened at C$60.72 on Thursday. Fortis has a 1-year low of C$51.02 and a 1-year high of C$62.47. The stock has a market cap of C$30.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$60.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$57.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer James Reid sold 19,972 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$59.46, for a total transaction of C$1,187,493.18. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.47%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.12%.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona’s Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.